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Ti Kuan Yin

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Ti Kuan Yin by Adagio Teas

Description: Our fine version of Ti Kuan Yin produces a cup that is warm, soft, and soothingly mineral in texture. It has notes of toasted walnut and tender collard greens with an intriguing lingering floral aroma. In flavor it is lightly orchid with gentle astringency; a meditative cup

Dry tea smells floral and grassy but also slightly sharp/peppery

Liquor is a golden green color in the cup.

Steeped tea smells floral, more so than the dry.

The tea itself has a light floral flavor, like lavender or jasmine, and needs nothing added to be sweet. It is a palate cleanser, leaving you feeling calm and refreshed

Tea Rating: 4.5/5

This post is along the same vein of the one from the beginning of the year, about how I felt when I checked out of Facebook for a while, and was partially inspired by my roommate.

As a group, we usually all (myself, my fiance and my roommate) sit down to dinner to together. Often, we watch a movie or an episode of a T.V. show at the same time.

[There are some things to say about this practice, but in another post]

The other night, my fiance and I were unenthusiastically talking about watching a particular show that we are a few episodes behind on because we’re not exactly pleased with the turn it has taken.

Our roommate looked at us with a bit of a raised eyebrow and said “If you’re not pleased with it why are you watching it?”

We looked at each other, and shrugged. We had no real answer.

This got me thinking.

We are very much in control of the media we consume; the shows we watch, the post we share, the articles we read. We are even in control of how we get that input or information.

Yet, so often, we act as though we’re not.

We act as if watching a T.V. show means we’re obligated to watch it until the very end. Or that having a Facebook account means that we need to check it constantly, or that it must be how we get our news.

None of this is true.

I’m put in mind of the KonMari method if de-cluttering: if it brings you joy, keep it. If not, let it go.

Obviously not all the media I take in during a given day is going to be joyful. As an adult member of society I feel that it is important to be informed about what is going on in the world.

But that does not mean I have to get it from a source that inundates me with negativity as social media often does. I can subscribe to the local paper and e-mail newsletters from various sources just as easily as I can scroll Facebook. And, more importantly, those things would be potentially more meaningful and varied than my News Feed.

As far as my recreational media goes, if it feels pointless or predictable or disappointing to me, then I can let it go. No one is holding me hostage forcing me to continue.

I feel that a good story (no matter how I view or read it) will make me feel things other than joy, because the point of a good story or art at all is to shine a light on things you’ve never thought of, or hold up a mirror that’s not edited by your own mind, to make you think, and to inspire you to question. But if all I’m feeling is disappointment or dread when I think of a show I’ve been watching, then that is just a one-dimensional as a constantly-happy sitcom (not that all sitcoms are this way) and I don’t have to keep it in my life.